Angela Carella: Are boaters bagging BLT's boatyard?

Fewer boaters using temporary facility

Updated 10:37 am, Friday, November 9, 2012

Here's the latest chapter in The Developer and the Boatyard, a Stamford saga.

Boaters aren't using the boatyard the city forced the developer, Building and Land Technology, to open temporarily after BLT demolished the original boatyard in violation of a zoning agreement and proposed building in its stead an 850,000-square-foot headquarters for one of the world's largest hedge funds.

It's because the original boatyard this time of year would have about 500 boats in winter storage, said Tom Mills, chairman of the Stamford Zoning Board, but now there are three.

It's because since Gardella opened the temporary yard in June, there have been only two boat repairs, one for electrical work and one for Fiberglas repair, Mills said.

It's because since June Gardella has sold about one-tenth the amount of fuel that the original boatyard normally sold, Mills said.

He thinks all of that is because boaters are striking back at BLT.

"They want to get even, but they are not hurting BLT. They are hurting Skip Gardella, a reputable business," Mills said. "You can't expect him to run a business with no customers. If he can't make money, he can't offer the services. I'm really disturbed about this. The Zoning Board worked hard to get the boatyard back, even if it's only interim for now, and this is not the way to go."

Mills has reason to be upset. He and the Zoning Board stand in the middle of an 18-month battle that involves:

BLT, the largest landowner in Stamford, now remaking a large portion of the South End in a $3.5 billion project called Harbor Point. It is one of the largest projects under way in the United States.

Bridgewater Associates, the worldwide hedge fund for which BLT wants to build a $750 million headquarters on the peninsula.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, the former Stamford mayor who made a secret deal to bring Bridgewater to Stamford. In the deal, not shared with Stamford officials until it was done, the state will give Bridgewater $115 million in financial incentives if it moves from Westport to Stamford, bringing 1,225 employees and adding 750 to 1,000 jobs over 10 years.

Stamford boaters and other residents who are angry that BLT seems to be allowed to break all the rules.

The saga began in summer 2011, when BLT built a median on the only road leading to the peninsula housing Stamford's only boatyard. The median makes it difficult for trailers to bring boats in and out.

A few weeks later, BLT refused to renew the lease for longtime boatyard operator Brewer Yacht Haven. At Christmastime last year, with Brewer gone and without notifying zoning officials, BLT demolished all the boatyard buildings, violating the 2007 development plan for Harbor Point, which mandates that a boatyard operate on the peninsula without interruption.

In the first three months of this year, Zoning Board officials repeatedly asked BLT to present its boatyard replacement plan, without success. The board then passed a resolution forbidding BLT from doing any work on the peninsula until it presents the plan.

When the board sought help from the DEEP, the DEEP was silent. We now know that during this time Malloy was in talks with Bridgewater.

In April, to quiet the community outcry, BLT announced that it hired Gardella to operate a boatyard on the peninsula temporarily. Gardella said at the time he had a two-year contract with BLT.

In July, frustrated that it had no plan from BLT, the Zoning Board got a cease-and-desist court order against the developer.

In August Malloy appeared in Stamford with his surprise Bridgewater announcement.

In October BLT finally filed a zoning application for the peninsula. It includes the Bridgewater headquarters but no boatyard. BLT instead proposed to rebuild it on a Magee Avenue site that boaters and others say is unsuitable for a boatyard.

Boaters "are furious with BLT for the way the boatyard was destroyed," said Maureen Boylan, a founder of a citizens' group called Save Our Boatyard, but she has not heard talk of a boycott.

Few boats are stored at the site now because Gardella "sent the winter contracts out late, and some people had already made plans. Some people may be leaving them in the water. Other than that, I don't know where everybody went," Boylan said. "A lot of times the yard is closed, and when people see that, they go somewhere else."

BLT spokesman John Freeman did not return a call for comment, but Bernie Weiss, a boater who tried to fuel up at the boatyard Thursday, forwarded to The Advocate an email from Freeman explaining why the pump was closed.

"As you can see we are currently in transition between seasons," Freeman wrote. In the off-season, boaters must call 203-644-1554 to make arrangements to get fuel, and a sign will be posted notifying boaters of that, Freeman wrote.

Not good enough, Boylan said.

"That is not what we were promised," she said. "The Zoning Board and BLT said service would be restored. This has been a shell game with Freeman."

Stamford Economic Development Director Laure Aubuchon said the Stamford Harbor Commission "will advise BLT on what will be required for an interim boatyard during off-season." She is confident "there will be adequate services for the boating community" this winter, Aubuchon said.

Mills said the latest chapter in the saga has him questioning what the Zoning Board is fighting for.

"What BLT did was wrong, but this is wrong, too. And two wrongs don't make a right," he said. "Boaters say they have no confidence in BLT, but Skip Gardella is his own man. Why did no one use the service this year? They are giving BLT reason to come back to us and say no one is using the services so there's no need for a boatyard. This is a bad way to go about things."

Boylan said boaters "are waiting to see a bona fide plan for the boatyard. When they see that, they will come back."